The Warp

Press Comment on ‘Cathy’ (2)

The
Birmingham Post, 29 November 1966

Dozens
of Birmingham’s homeless families heckled city councillors at a
meeting last night urging them to end ‘inhuman conditions’
in the city’s hostels.

They
were part of a 200-strong audience who went to hear a discussion on
the problems brought out by the BBC play ‘Cathy Come Home’
shown last week.

The
meeting, at the Midland Institute, twice nearly broke up because of
noisy interruptions from angry hostel-dwellers.

As
time ran out for hostel families who had to be back by the 10 p.m.
curfew, urgent telephone calls to hostel wardens were made in an
effort to extend their evening out.

This
failed. But offers came from the meeting to ferry families home in
time.

Councillor
Wallace Lawler (Lib) said that Birmingham ought to accept the
admonition from the play.

He
added, ‘If our housing problem had not been removed from party
politics 20 years ago, we wouldn’t be here discussing this
evening.

‘It
is ten years since we were first told by the Press of this problem of
homelessness and what have we done in those years? ... The city has
quite a lot to account for.’

The
play was long overdue. It should have been shown week by week over
the past ten years, he said. There was no excuse for parting a
father from his family when there was a need for his presence in a
hostel, Councillor Lawler added.

The
problem of homelessness, he thought, not only concerned newly-arrived
immigrants in the city. Families who had lived in the city for a
number of years were living in hostels.

The
opening speaker, Ald Dr Louis Glass, Conservative Housing Management
Committee chairman, attacked Mr Jeremy Sandford, the play’s
author, and Mr Kenneth Loach the director, both later speakers, for
‘sneaking into a Birmingham hostel to get information for their
play’.

He
said, ‘Two men disguised themselves as insurance agents to get
inside the hostel. But they aroused the suspicion of the warden.’

Later
in the meeting, Mr Sandford denied that he was in Birmingham on the
date of the incident Ald Glass mentioned.

Ald
Glass said the play had smacked in the face every agency dealing with
the homeless. In Birmingham, he added, four hostels with dormitories
had been closed. ‘We will try and stop this separation of
fathers and mothers in the remainder, within two years,’ he
added.

Nobody
on the Birmingham City Council condoned the separation of fathers and
mothers. Efforts were being made to improve the situation.

One
in 14 in Birmingham were immigrants, he said. In the next five years
Birmingham was going to spend £32m on housing.

‘If
these two men had worked on a building site to produce some practical
help in the city they would have been of some use,’ he added.

Councillor
Mrs Doris Fisher, former chairman of the Housing Management
Committee, said she considered Duddeston Ward merited some public
attention for its slum problems. Ladywood was getting too much
limelight.

She
said that one out of every eight people who went through hostels were
doing so because they had been evicted from their homes through rent
arrears.

One
out of every five were in hostels because they had been evicted by
their own relatives. It was a sad picture, she added.

Mr
Jeremy Sandford thought it said a lot for Birmingham’s sense of
responsibility for the city to have identified itself so strongly
with the play.

‘We
shot about seven minutes of the 75-minute play in Birmingham, several
other areas around the country were also recorded. I don’t
think Birmingham was recognisable in any of the film.’

The
play’s director, Mr Loach, said, ‘There have been people
here so anxious to clear themselves and their own names that any
sensible discussion is impossible.’

Later,
during the noisy questioning, Ald Glass said, ‘We were very
glad that the play did happen. It brought forward this problem.
What I want people to understand is that three years ago the council
said hostels would be closed as we know them today. Our aim is to
provide temporary accommodation for the husband, wife and children.’

4

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